Refine marketing with a seasonal theme
It is essential to make a few simple changes to your advertising that make it more appealing to a Summer audience.
During the hotter months of the year, people like to relax and let loose. Make sure that your ads and cover photos reflect this. Emphasize aspects such as relaxation, convenience and savings and fun. This is what Summer is all about! Tie your brand into the season.
Alter post times
When you target your audience is just as important as what you target them with. The timing may differ in the Summer from fall or winter. In the colder months it regularly becomes dark between 4 and 6 pm so more people stay indoors and are more apt to conduct searches online.
During summer, however, it’s typically light out until 8 or 9 pm. This encourages people to stay outdoors much longer. In general, they are online less during the day, especially if the weather is nice. Keep this in mind when you schedule your posts.
Snap Summer “Selfies”
Most businesses focus their marketing strategy on sharing business-related content, but giving your followers a peak behind-the-scenes can give them a better idea of your company’s personality and foster engagement for your other content. Use your business social media pages to post photos from the company BBQ cookout or picnic. Post some fun pictures of your loyal customers enjoying the hot weather! Share your staff’s favorite Summerrecipes or link to videos of Summer office activities and events. Giving your fans a glimpse on the inside helps strengthen relationships, makes your business more real and approachable. Show your business personality and increase engagement this Summer 2015!
Summer Sweepstakes
Engagement is important to the success of your social media efforts and the best way to get your followers involved is to ask! Invite them to share their own Summer photos featuring your brand (i.e. A bridal shop inviting followers to share their wedding photos orHardware Store asking for project photos). This strategy increases your network engagement and you instantly will great user-generated content.
Take A Risk
Try somethings you usually wouldn’t do. Post more than you usually would, and not all of it should be about your product and brand. Go for the natural marketing feel by discussing things at a human level! Talk about Summer community events with your target audience!
Try A New Outlet
Take advantage of the potentially slower Summer business months! Use that free time to try out a hot new social media outlet. Try a visual platform such as Instagram, Vine and/or Pinterest. Set a reasonable goal such as posting 2 new photos per week. The 3 months of Summer may not be enough time to gauge the effectiveness, but it could also be a hidden gem in your social media marketing efforts that you can’t pass up! The only way to find out is to try and when September comes around, decide if you want to continue to grow your presence on that outlet.
You could also take a shot at a new type of social media post.Consider trying a Facebook quiz or trivia question, a caption contest, a question for the audience or feature a customer story.
Grow your Network
This is that hot time of the year to find new people and potential customers to connect with online via LinkedIn and Twitter. Trying to grow your Facebook likes is not a bad idea either. Keep in mind that if engagement is down for you (because everyone is enjoying the Summer), it is not unlikely that it is down for your competitors. Still, find that personal connection to people that can help grow your business evenduring the slow days of Summer!
If it happens to be busy for your business, grow your email list!Something as simple as a paper sign-up sheet can go a long way in helping you stay in touch with customers after they visit your boutique, eat at your restaurant, or come into your office.
This is a great chance for you to personalize your sign-up experience a little more than in the past. Ask for their name and email address, and since you’re face-to-face, you could also ask for their hometown to find out whether your new contacts are local or discovered your business while on vacation.